


in this moment

by glazedsun



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:27:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26684398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glazedsun/pseuds/glazedsun
Summary: Cassandra slid the shoes on her feet, smiling at the memories of afternoons hidden away with her mother. She rose onto the balls of her feet, lowering with an exhale.A pause, a slow turn, and then she went running across the floor into a leap.There was no music, and yet… she didn’t stop moving. Her mind supplied memories of the piano being played in the corner, memories of her laughter when she tripped over her feet. The memory of her mother’s voice was music enough.or, cassandra finds a way to relieve some stress.
Relationships: Cassandra de Rolo & Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	in this moment

**Author's Note:**

> this was just a little exercise in me trying to get back into writing again, and explore a new fandom. i debated whether or not to even post it, but i decided that it's sweet and cassandra de rolo deserves the world.

Cassandra stepped away from yet another council meeting and took a deep breath to calm her shaking nerves and racing mind. She barely remembered what they talked about, found her mind wandering through most of it.

When a few moments went by and she realized she was still leaning against the wall, unable to fully breathe, she shook her head. There was work to be done, yet. Things to sign, review, report.

No, she decided.

Later, she decided.

Sparring was an option to clear her head… Kashaw was, though he’d never admit it, always willing to give her time to train.

But no, that didn’t feel right. She frowned, and then a small smile came across her worn features. Cassandra made her way down the hallways, into a long forgotten room. It was big, and empty outside of a large piano in the corner. The wood floor and long mirrors were coated in years of disuse, but none of that mattered to Cassandra.

As if moving purely on muscle memory, Cassandra walked to a different corner of the room. On a shelf there lay a pair of soft shoes. She tenderly picked them up, a sad smile on her face.

Memories flooded her mind as she carefully took off her jacket and loosened the rest of her clothing. Like all of her other siblings, she’d learned the formal dances, the partnered displays for balls and gatherings.

Cassandra, though, had learned another kind of dancing.

Johanna was a skilled warrior and huntress, that much was true.

She was also, and maybe Cassandra was a bit biased, the most graceful dancer.

Cassandra slid the shoes on her feet, smiling at the memories of afternoons hidden away with her mother. She rose onto the balls of her feet, lowering with an exhale.

A pause, a slow turn, and then she went running across the floor into a leap.

There was no music, and yet… she didn’t stop moving. Her mind supplied memories of the piano being played in the corner, memories of her laughter when she tripped over her feet. The memory of her mother’s voice was music enough.

With each pirouette, each glissade, Cassandra felt a little bit of the weight on her shoulders fly away.

She could practically hear her mother’s voice, firm yet gentle, scolding her for not pointing her feet enough or holding her arms high enough. Cassandra found herself letting out a peal of laughter as she stumbled slightly, not landing as gracefully as she meant to.

There was slow applause from the door, and Cassandra spun around with a gasp. Standing there was Percival, leaning casually in the door frame, a smirk on his face.

“How did you find me?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest, immediately going on the defensive.

Percival shrugged. “Couldn’t find you anywhere else.” There was a pause, but before Cassandra could break the slightly awkward silence herself, he spoke up again. His voice was soft, and even… fond when he spoke again, in a way Cassandra didn’t often hear.

It’s not that they didn’t care about each other. Quite the opposite, really. They were just, well. Not an affectionate family.

“You looked… free,” was what he finally said.

Cassandra was thrown off by that. She blinked, once, twice, before a small smile came over her face. “You look like shit,” she murmured in return.

Percy barked out a laugh, running a hand through his stark white hair. “Always so good to me, sister dear.”

Cassandra couldn’t help but grin at that, and walked over to him. She paused for a moment, taking in the sight of her brother. He looked older than his years, and not just because of the white hair. The scars, the trauma, it was all in his eyes.

But there were laughter lines, too.

She took a deep breath, feeling overwhelmed with a sudden affection for him in a way that she hadn’t felt since the day she’d run into the temple of Sarenrae to find out his friends had just barely managed to bring him back from the dead. Her only surviving brother.

Sometimes, even she forgot how young he was. How young _she_ was. In this moment, with their vulnerabilities silently laid bare, though, all she felt was the sudden need for a hug.

Cassandra rushed forward, leaping up in the hopes that Percival would catch her. He yelped, wrapping his arms around her and standing there, stiff and awkward. He kept that up for a split second before melting and hugging her back, sighing softly. “Thank you for all you do,” he murmured.

“You just owe me,” Cassandra said sweetly, squeezing him tightly.

Even though she couldn’t see him, she knew that he was rolling his eyes. “Of course, sister dear.”

Cassandra snorted out a laugh and stepped back. “I don’t suppose you feel like stretching your fingers?” She nodded in the direction of the piano.

Percival glanced back into the hallway, likely weighing his responsibilities, and then shrugged off his coat and walked over to sit down at the piano. She grinned wide at him, moving back to the center of the room.

As Percival played the first few discordant notes on a piano that hadn’t been tuned in many years, and Cassandra lifted into a slightly wobbly arabesque, for that brief moment in time, they were two siblings that sometimes got along, outside world and responsibilities be damned.


End file.
